Page 9 of Bitter Discord

“How did we forget?” I finally asked, sinking further into the couch.

“I don’t know. We’ve had a lot going on, and how often do you think about Hasan’s Talent? I don’t think about it much at all. Back when it all went down, you told me never to mention it again, so I never did. I wouldn’t. We both trust Heath to never ask, so why would we think of it? You mentioned secrets in the family, and it just came to mind.”

“You know what makes this entire thing worse?” I gave a mad giggle as I kept trying to think of how we could work around this. “I can’t even tell them you’ve never mentioned it in front of the werewolves. You have. You looked at Landon and Heath and told them you knew your chances when you helped in April. Well, you told them to tell me. It won’t matter to Hasan.” I leaned over, covering my face. “Dirk.” His name came out muffled, but it was the best I could do. I couldn’t sit up.

“I thought I was going to die,” Dirk reminded me. “I needed you to understand that.”

“I know, I do, and I understand it… I don’t think anyone is going to care,” I said into my hands. “How do I explain this to Zuri now?”

“I wish I hadn’t said anything now.”

“Zuri would have realized the problem immediately. She might not see it as the biggest security threat, but I don’t know. How is your relationship with her? I know you’ve never been close to any of us, but maybe if she trusts you and Heath just enough, she won’t tell the entire family that Hasan’s Talent might be leaked to outsiders.” I groaned, rubbing my face again. “Does she know you know? Or Niko?”

“I… never told Niko what Hasan said to me. You’re the first person I ever mentioned it to,” Dirk answered. “I didn’t want Niko to be sad like Hasan had been that day. As for what Zuri knows… If I didn’t tell Niko something, no one would know. I never met her in person until I was at that safe house, and you were captured by those other werecats.”

“Niko believed you hadn’t met anyone in the family,” I said softly, remembering a text he sent me when Dirk first arrived. Something about it now made me incredibly sad. “He could have been lying since it was a text, but I don’t see Niko doing that. You met Hasan and never told Niko, and neither did Hasan.”

Hasan never admitting it was interesting, but I wanted to know how Dirk had gotten away with it.

“I’ve been thinking about that day a lot since April…” Dirk got a faraway expression I had seen before. “Hasan was visiting him. I knew of Hasan, and Hasan knew of me.” This time, I was going to get the full story. “Niko wasn’t in the house, but I wanted to meet this man I idolized from everything Niko had told me. Remember, he was cool to me back then. I was thirteen, and a man like Hasan was easy to admire. It was a stroke of boldness to introduce myself to the family I had been intimidated by for so long. I went to see what he was doing. I found him reading in the library. I introduced myself, and he seemed excited to meet me. He said he felt like he already knew me and invited me to read with him. He was taking a short trip away from his island to see his other children because they were feeling put out with him. My aunts and uncles, he said. Even at that age, I felt like I knew them. Niko talked about everyone often… except you. He talked about Liza more than he talked about you.”

“I was the reason they were feeling… put out,” I said, nodding. The timeline was falling into place. I had been Changed, and everything was messy for a while.

Well, it never really stopped being messy.

“Because you had just been Changed. Not you, but what he did. Don’t blame yourself for that.”

“Yeah. As an adult who didn’t know what she was being pulled into, it might not have been my fault, but I was the reason.”

“Yeah, well, Hasan was there to try to smooth things over with Niko, who had apparently stormed out.” Dirk snorted. “He invited me to read with him. We did for a little while until everything shifted, and he told me. I remember his exact words…” Dirk shook his head. “But it doesn’t matter. He and I never saw each other again. Not until… well, I was here. I would still hear him talking to Niko on calls and listen closely to Niko when he talked about him.”

“You know a lot about the family.” While talking to Dirk, I felt a werewolf moving through my territory. Werewolves were always moving through the territory. During breakfast, Teagan had called to verify he and the boys could leave for Dallas. I figured Shamus, Stacy, and Kody were the three who went into town. I didn’t know everyone yet like I knew Heath and Landon. I was close to Dirk, and he was often close by, so I was getting the hang of determining him from the others, but the rest of the pack was still an indistinguishable wash of werewolf in my head.

“Niko trained me to keep my eyes open and listen. I absorbed everything he said about everything. The family was part of that. I learned the languages he wanted me to speak to make a good impression if I eventually met them. I listened to his stories and his advice when it came to dealing with them. I also heard things he never intended me to and put them together on my own. That’s how I know about his complicated relationship with Davor. His relationship with Mischa is just as complicated for similar reasons.”

“Too much werewolf,” I said, nodding.Speaking of… that one is moving toward us. We’ll have to wrap this up if someone is coming over to see Heath. I didn’t hear Heath or Landon telling anyone in the pack they wouldn’t be here.

“Exactly. So, does that explain everything? Any other stories you want me to trot out?”

“No.” I wanted to close my eyes and pretend the last six months hadn’t happened. “I’ll talk to Zuri tomorrow. Hopefully, I don’t have your scent on me when I pick her up.”

“Not hard to do. You have enough of Heath’s scent on you all the time that anyone else’s is hard to pick up, even for the werewolf nose.”

“Is it because we share a closet?” I asked, crossing my arms. This was the second time today I was told I smelled a bit too much like my fiancé.

“Yeah, and because you two fuck nearly every night. It might wear off while you’re in Dallas for the week, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

“How…” I rubbed my temples.

“Did you know the pack does routine patrols around your territory while we know you’re sleeping or should be sleeping?” he asked nonchalantly. “The patrol route gets pretty close to the house.”

“I know,” I growled, the menacing rumble from my chest directed at my quasi-nephew.

“You might want to talk to Heath about it,” he suggested. “I can’t change the patrol route. Sorry.”

“Just stop, please,” I ordered, shaking my head. “We have another werewolf coming over, so let’s drop it for now. We can talk more about your situation later tonight.”

“There’s nothing else to say. If Hasan doesn’t trust me or trust Heath, I’m a security risk. The moment he finds out I’m a werewolf, I don’t know if being raised by Niko will save me.” Dirk winced. “Or Heath.”

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